


Holding Her

by JillyWinchester



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Awesome Rose Tyler, BAMF Rose Tyler, Complete, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, POV Rose Tyler, POV The Doctor (Doctor Who), Panic Attacks, Rose Tyler Loves the Doctor, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler Fluff, The Doctor (Doctor Who) is an Idiot, The Doctor Loves Rose Tyler, The Doctor/Rose Tyler Fluff, Touch-Starved, Touchy-Feely, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-22 10:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22247734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JillyWinchester/pseuds/JillyWinchester
Summary: Then Rose pulled herself closer, molding herself to the Doctor's side.The change was immediate.  Her Doctor sighed contentedly and leaned into her.  She wasn't sure why she hadn't thought of it before."Doctor?" she asked.---The Doctor almost lost Rose.  He's reminded painfully that eventually everything ends, everyone dies.Rose tells him different.---A fluffy hurt/comfort touchstarved!Doctor x Rose fic
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler
Comments: 7
Kudos: 176





	Holding Her

Rose and the Doctor burst into laughter. They'd just narrowly escaped Yazlia IV, and they were celebrating. Rose threw herself into the Doctor's arms for a hug. He lifted her into his arms, and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

Rose expected the Doctor to spin her around a bit, then let her go, but her Doctor just gripped her harder and pressed his nose deep into her neck. After a bit passed and he still didn't let go, Rose pulled back. 

"Doctor?"

The Doctor looked up, and Rose noticed tears in his eyes, but he blinked them away, and quickly put her down. 

"Sorry! So, where should we go next? Barcelona? We always talk about Barcelona, but somehow we never get around to it!"

"Doctor." 

The Doctor froze, smile fading. "Yeah?"

"Why don't we stay in for a little bit. Watch a movie?" Rose asked. She wasn't sure what the Doctor's tears had meant, but they concerned her enough that she needed to investigate. And to do that, she needed to see him quiet, without the Bazaars or bungee jumping or evil alien races. And if she was honest, they both probably needed a break from the death-defying stunts for a few days. 

"Sure!" the Doctor's smile was back, bright and warm, and very possibly fake. "I could show you all the Marvel movies, or Star Wars! I ever tell you they came out with new Star Wars movies? Little controversial at the time, but they're a classic. Or-"

Rose grabbed his hand. "Star Wars sounds great. Popcorn?"

The Doctor nodded, and they trotted off the kitchen to pop the popcorn and find more movie snacks in the TARDIS's cupboards.

"Do we have any licorice?" Rose asked. 

"Um-" the Doctor pulled her toward a cupboard she hadn't checked yet, opened it, and after a moment of messing around, pulled out a bag of Twizzlers. "There you go!"

Rose smiled, taking the bag as she and the Doctor walked back over to watch the popcorn on the stove (Rose insisted the old fashioned way tasted better). But the ordinarily fun, nostalgic activity was tainted by Rose's worry. The Doctor never held her hand this long. He always let go after a few minutes. Rose thought back to the hug in the console room again.  _ Oh.  _

She glanced up at the Doctor's face again, then back to their hands. Then Rose pulled herself closer, molding herself to the Doctor's side.

The change was immediate. Her Doctor sighed contentedly and leaned into her. She wasn't sure why she hadn't thought of it before. 

"Doctor?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

The Doctor's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Rose met his eyes, then pulled him into a hug. "You know what I mean. What do you need?"

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine, I just, I-"

"Doctor." Rose looked into his eyes, serious.

"I-it's stupid."

"Doctor, of course it isn't stupid. Now, tell me."

The Doctor sighed, running his free hand through his hair. "It's nothing, really I just, I just,"

"Doctor." He met her eyes.

"Can I hold you?" His voice was quiet, vulnerable, and it wasn't the answer Rose was expecting. But at least it was an answer. 

"Of course, Doctor."

The Doctor lifted her into a hug, and Rose wrapped her legs around his waist again. He pressed his nose into her neck and started to rub her back. Rose gripped him tight. "Doctor, you know you're always welcome to this; you know that, right?" She could feel him smile against her shoulder, but it was slow and wet with tears. Rose reached up to pet at her Doctor's hair. "It's okay. I'm right here. I'm okay. We're gonna finish our popcorn, then we can sit and cuddle and watch Star Wars. Doctor, I'm not going anywhere."

The Doctor gripped her tight, then sighed. His hands wandered down to her bum to support her better, and Rose leaned back to look at him, smiling. "You can hold on as long as you want, Doctor. Just don't burn our popcorn."

Rose knew it was the right thing to say because the Doctor smiled and shifted his hold so he had her on one arm, and she was hanging on his hip, gripping his shoulders and neck for support. "Right. The worst thing in the world is  _ burnt popcorn _ ."

His hold was secure, and in anyone else's hands she would have felt like a child, but this was  _ her Doctor,  _ and she trusted him more than anything.

The Doctor separated the popcorn, M&Ms, and licorice into bowls, then poured their drinks, all one-handed. Then he put it on one of those little bed and breakfast trays, and carefully carried it all into the TV room, before grabbing the remote and sitting down with Rose in his lap. 

They shifted a bit, making sure she was sitting sideways on his lap instead of straddling him so she could still see the TV. He wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned a little into her shoulder as she started to run her hands through his hair. 

They started with the first movie, or fourth, whichever way you look at it. The Doctor laughed at all the right parts and butted in whenever he had a fun fact, but Rose knew something was still off. They'd have to talk about this later. 

*~*~*~*~*~*

Halfway through the second movie, Rose had to use the bathroom. Which was fine, the Doctor had told her so. He was a time lord, he could spend a few minutes away from her.

Turns out he couldn't. She'd only been gone a minute, twenty-six seconds, but the absence of her comforting weight in his lap made him want to run after her, make sure his Rose was safe. 

Which was stupid. Rose was fine. The TARDIS would tell him if anything happened to her. Right? 

1 minute 30 seconds was a completely normal time for a bathroom break. Totally normal. Plus, it's not like he expected her to go rushing back to him. He didn't need her to do that. She was probably getting more snacks or refreshing her makeup or something. 

Soon the Doctor became acutely aware he was crying. Which was stupid, crying over a freaking  _ bathroom break  _ of all things. She'd only been gone 1 minute, 42 seconds. The Doctor wanted so badly to wipe his tears and pretend they'd never happened, but he couldn't move. He was frozen in place, stuck, without his Rose.

"Doctor?" It was Rose.  _ His Rose.  _ Safe and sound. The Doctor's face crumpled, and he went to her, lifting her in a tight hug.

" _ Oh, Doctor," _ Rose pulled back after a moment and surveyed his face, and the Doctor realized far too late what he had done.

_ Stupid Stupid Stupid  _ **_ Stupid _ **

"I'm sorry-" he said quickly, putting her down and running her hands through his hair. "Sorry, sorry, got carried away there, ready to finish the movie? Then maybe we could-"

"Doctor." Rose's voice was serious, and the Doctor's blood froze. She knew. She'd seen him at his most vulnerable, she'd seen him, seen him being so  ** stupid.  ** So irrational. Couldn't even go less than two minutes without her. She would get scared. She'd run off, she'd  _ leave.  _

And the Doctor would fall apart.

"Doctor, come sit with me," she said, in a voice he couldn't quite understand. But he did understand the words. She wanted to talk with him. Let him down easy before she asked him to take her back. To leave her and never come back.

He obeyed despite his fear. Best to have her last memory of him be a dignifiable one. 

He sat next to her and steeled himself for rejection.

But then she brushed his hair back and rested her hand on his cheek. "I am  ** never ** going to leave you."

"Now," she said, looking deeper into his eyes and making the Doctor feel like an open book just waiting to be read. "tell me what's brought this on."

"I-Rose, I almost lost you today. You went missing, and I couldn't find you."

"But I'm okay now. I'm right here." Rose said, and she reached down to grab his hand.

"Rose, I've lost so many people. I-I can't lose you too."

"And it helps to hold me."

"Yeah. I don't know why. It's stupid. Completely irrational. You're safe inside the TARDIS. I'd know the second there was a threat, but-"

"Doctor, I love you," Rose said, startling the Doctor into silence. "I'm always going to stay with you. No Daleks, Slitheen, or anything else is going to keep me away. I'm never gonna let go, so if it makes you feel better, then I'm always gonna be there to hold your hand."

The words touched him in a funny way, and the Doctor ducked his head from her. 

"Hey, hey, none of that," Rose said, pulling his chin up so he was looking into her eyes. "I told you, I love you. I want you safe and happy. So no more tears. We're gonna sit together, finish this movie, and then go to bed. Because we're safe, and nothing gets through the TARDIS, remember?"

She pulled him into a tight hug, and the Doctor just closed his eyes, breathing her scent in. He was just being silly. 

That night, the Doctor and Rose curled into bed, holding each other tight.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and Kudos!


End file.
